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Weekly Poll: Which woman for Governor-General?

Photographs of our nominations for Governor-General 2008

Over the past few days we’ve been speculating about who’ll be Australia’s next Governor-General. Some high-profile folks reckon it should be a woman. So which of these nominees would you choose, and why? Vote at the website, and add your comments.

In alphabetical order of surname…

  • Marie Bashir, well-respected Governor of NSW and tireless worker for Aboriginal mental health.
  • Liz Ellis, former captain of the Australian netball team and solicitor.
  • Edna Everage, housewife superstar, actress and ambassador for Australian culture.
  • Julie Hammer, an electronics engineer and intelligence officer who blazed the trail for women in the air force.
  • Ja’mie King, dedicated fund-raiser and self-promoter. (Personally I think Ja’mie will eventually replace Dame Edna as our leading international celebrity.)
  • Dannii Minogue, because… oh, someone will think of a reason.
  • Kylie Minogue, pop princess and actress of renown.
  • Lowitja O’Donoghue, first chairwoman of the disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
  • … or someone else?

Previous results: Kevin Rudd becoming PM was the clear winner on first preferences at 52%, with The Chaser crashing APEC security a strong 2nd at 36%. The antic of footballer Ben Cousins was twice as important as Australia’s signing of the Kyoto protocol.

[poll id=”17″]

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Quick! Call the shredders, stat!

Photograph of truck for mobile shredding service, with amber flashing lights!

Nothing wrong with shredders. Nothing wrong with having a shredder in a truck to come visit if you’ve got plenty to shred. But a truck with orange emergency-vehicle lights on top?

I guess it’d come in handy if the race was on. Who’ll get to your office first? The emergency shredder? Or the federal police with a search warrant?

Photographed on Stanmore Road, Enmore, in Sydney the other day. The Volvo is innocent.

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Leaving room for elephants: a chat with David Attenborough

Photograph of David Attenborough, 22 August 1984, by Robin Goodfellow
David Attenborough about to be interviewed by Stilgherrian in 1984. (Photo: Robin Goodfellow, later scanned directly from the negative.)

Last night’s final episode of Michael Parkinson‘s long-running TV chat show should have been much better, given the stellar cast. The one stand-out for me was David Attenborough. Something he said reminded me of a conversation we had 24 years ago. I’ll share that episode shortly. But first, here’s the interview we did…

Sir David Attenborough hardly needs an introduction. He was in Australia promoting the TV series and book The Living Planet when I spoke with him. His previous series Life on Earth was the UK’s highest-rating ever at that time. The Living Planet looked to be heading in the same direction.

Attenborough has been a TV producer almost as long as the medium has existed.

From 1965 to 1969 he was Controller of the then-new BBC 2, followed by four years in another executive position. After 8 years behind a desk he decided he’d had enough of computers, accounting and unions, and returned to life as a producer — a decision, he says, that wasn’t hard to make.

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